This is a list of the bird species recorded in Denmark. The avifauna of Denmark included a total of 504 species recorded in the wild by according to the Dansk Ornitologisk Forening (DOF; Danish Ornithological Society)'s DK listen[1] (this list uses only Danish names, with the English names below abstracted from the DOF's Western Palaearctic list.[2]) This list's taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families and species) and nomenclature (English and scientific names) are those of the IOC World Bird List, 2022 edition.
Bird species admitted to the Danish List are included in the following categories A, B or C, with the same definitions as the British and other Western Palaearctic bird lists:
A: species that have been recorded in an apparently natural state at least once since 1 January 1950.
B: species that were recorded in an apparently natural state at least once between 1 January 1800 and 31 December 1949, but have not been recorded subsequently.
C: species introduced by humans, and have established breeding populations derived from introduced stock, which maintain themselves without necessary recourse to further introduction.
Species marked with a * are rare species which require acceptance by the Sjældenheds Udvalget (SU; the Danish Rarities Committee).
These are terrestrial species of game birds, feeding and nesting on the ground. They are variable in size but generally plump, with broad and relatively short wings.
Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is camouflaged to resemble bark or leaves.
Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. They have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent.
Bustards are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World. They are omnivorous and nest on the ground. They walk steadily on strong legs and big toes, pecking for food as they go. They have long broad wings with "fingered" wingtips and striking patterns in flight. Many have interesting mating displays.
The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos and allies. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs. The Old World cuckoos are brood parasites.
Sandgrouse have small pigeon-like heads and necks, but sturdy compact bodies. They have long pointed wings and sometimes tails and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn and dusk. Their legs are feathered down to the toes.
Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots, and moorhens. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps, or rivers. Many are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.
Cranes are large, long-legged, and long-necked birds. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays.
Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, their feet are placed far back on the body, making them ungainly on land.
Little grebe (lille lappedykker) Tachybaptus ruficollis A
Stone-curlews and thick-knees are a group of waders found worldwide within the tropical zone, with some also breeding in temperate Europe and Australia. They are medium to large waders with strong black or yellow-black bills, large yellow eyes, and cryptic plumage. Despite being classed as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semi-arid habitats.
Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.
The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.
Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, woodcocks, snipe, dowitchers, and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Glareolidae is a family of wading birds comprising the pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings, and long forked tails, and the coursers, which have long legs, short wings, and long, pointed bills that curve downwards.
Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls, terns, and allies. Gulls are typically white with grey wings, often with black markings on the wingtips, and the head white or dark in breeding plumage. They have stout, longish, bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally smaller to medium seabirds typically white with grey wings, often with black cap on the head; some darker overall. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Gulls and terns are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live more than 30 years.
The skuas are medium to large predatory or kleptoparasitic seabirds, typically with brown plumage, often with creamy-white underparts and white streaks on the primary feathers. They nest on the ground in subarctic and arctic regions and most are long-distance migrants.
Alcidae is a family of seabirds which are superficially similar to penguins with their black-and-white colour, their upright posture, and some of their habits, but which can fly.
Divers or loons are a group of aquatic birds found in arctic and cool temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere. They are the size of large ducks or small geese, but to which they are completely unrelated. In particular, their legs are set very far back which assists in swimming underwater but makes walking on land extremely difficult.
The austral storm petrels are relatives of the petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering.
The albatrosses are oceanic seabirds, among the largest of flying birds; the great albatrosses of the genus Diomedea have the largest wingspans of any extant bird.
Though the members of this family are similar in many respects to the southern storm petrels, including their general appearance and habits, there are enough genetic differences to warrant their placement in a separate family.
The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized petrels and shearwaters, characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long functional outer primary.
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked, wading birds with long, stout bills. Storks are mute, but bill-clattering is an important mode of communication at the nest. Their nests can be large and may be reused for many years. Many species are migratory.
Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are large, black, or black-and-white, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.
Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of coloured skin on the face. The bill is long, thin and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed.
The family Threskiornithidae includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings. Their bodies tend to be elongated, the neck more so, with rather long legs. The bill is also long, decurved in the case of the ibises, straight and distinctively flattened in the spoonbills.
The family Ardeidae contains the herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.
Pelicans are very large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. Like other birds in the order Pelecaniformes, they have four webbed toes.
Pandionidae is a family of fish-eating birds of prey, possessing a very large, powerful hooked beak for tearing fish apart, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight. The family is monotypic.
Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey and includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures. These birds have very large powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight.
Typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.
Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups with blues and browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but the outer toe is not.
The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar.
Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails and long tongues used for capturing insects. Some species have feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, while several species have only three toes. Many woodpeckers have the habit of tapping noisily on tree trunks with their beaks.
Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they often kill with their beaks instead of their talons.
Shrikes are passerine birds known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. A shrike's beak is hooked, like that of a typical bird of prey.
The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds. They are typically greenish in colour and resemble wood warblers apart from their heavier bills.
The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, and nutcrackers. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and many of the species show high levels of intelligence.
The waxwings are a group of birds with soft silky plumage and unique red tips to some of the wing feathers; these tips look like sealing wax and give the group its name. These are arboreal birds of northern forests. They eat insects in summer and berries in winter.
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. Their food is insects and seeds.
The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.
Long-tailed tits are a group of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They make woven bag nests in trees. Most eat a mixed diet which includes insects.
Leaf warblers are a family of small insectivorous birds found mostly in Eurasia and ranging into Wallacea and Africa. The species are small to very small, often green-plumaged above and yellow below, or more subdued with greyish-green to greyish-brown colours.
Wood warbler (skovsanger) Phylloscopus sibilatrix A
The members of this family are usually rather large for "warblers". Most are rather plain olivaceous brown above with much yellow to beige below. They are usually found in open woodland, reedbeds, or tall grass. The family occurs mostly in southern to western Eurasia and surroundings, but it also ranges far into the Pacific, with some species in Africa.
Locustellidae are a family of small insectivorous songbirds found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. They are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed, and tend to be drab brownish or buffy all over.
The Cisticolidae are warblers found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They are generally very small birds of drab brown or grey appearance found in open country such as grassland or scrub.
The family Sylviidae is a group of small insectivorous birds. They mainly occur as breeding species, as another common name (Old World warblers) implies, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Most are of generally undistinguished appearance, but many have distinctive songs.
The crests and kinglets are a small family of birds which resemble some warblers. They are very small insectivorous birds in the single genus Regulus. The adults have a yellow to orange crown stripe, giving rise to their name.
The wrens are mainly small and inconspicuous except for their loud songs. These birds have short wings and thin down-turned bills. Several species often hold their tails upright. All are insectivorous.
Eurasian wren (gærdesmutte) Troglodytes troglodytes A
Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have the unusual ability to climb down trees head first, unlike other birds which can only go upwards. Nuthatches have big heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet.
Treecreepers are small woodland birds, brown above and white below. They have thin pointed down-curved bills, which they use to extricate insects from bark. They have stiff tail feathers, like woodpeckers, which they use to support themselves on vertical trees.
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds. Their flight is strong and direct and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country. They eat insects and fruit. Their plumage is typically dark with a metallic sheen, but in some is brightly coloured.
The thrushes are a family of birds with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are plump, soft-plumaged, small-to-medium-sized insectivores or omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.
Old World flycatchers are a large group of birds which are mainly small arboreal insectivores. The appearance of these birds is highly varied, but they mostly have weak songs and harsh calls.
Dippers are a group of perching birds whose habitat includes riverine environments in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. They are named for their bobbing or dipping movements.
In general, sparrows tend to be small, plump, brown birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.
The accentors and dunnocks are the only bird family which is endemic to the Palearctic. They are small, fairly drab species superficially similar to sparrows but with slender bills.
Motacillidae is a family of small birds with medium to long tails which includes the wagtails and pipits. They are slender ground-feeding insectivores of open country.
Finches are seed-eating birds that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
The Calcariidae are a family of birds that had been traditionally grouped with the buntings and New World sparrows, but differ in a number of respects and are usually found in open grassy areas.
Emberizidae is a family of passerine birds containing a single genus. Until 2017, the New World sparrows, now Passerellidae, were also considered part of this family.
Until 2017, these species were considered part of the family Emberizidae. Most of the species are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the Old World sparrows which are in the family Passeridae. Many of these have distinctive head patterns.
The cardinals are a family of robust seed-eating birds with strong bills. They are typically associated with open woodland. The sexes usually have distinct plumages.
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